Bürklin Elektronik is a German-based distributor of high-quality, innovative electronic components used in the manufacturing of technology-based products. The distributor maintains tens of thousands of items from more than 500 companies and offers customers superior support and next-day delivery options to maintain a competitive advantage.
The distributor processes 1,500 orders every day, each with an average of five different products in varying quantities. To keep up with orders and inventory, Bürklin needs highly accessible, efficient digital processes and warehouse automation systems.
However, the company’s existing storage infrastructure was too complex to reliably guarantee high availability. The infrastructure contained a hodge-podge of equipment with different systems, complex management tools and complicated licensing terms. In short, it was expensive, complicated to maintain, and hindered performance.
The Move to Dynamic Data Storage Service
Bürklin decided to upgrade and simplify its data storage systems. Key goals were to improve performance, boost capacity, improve sustainability, and decrease costs. In keeping with the company’s long-term hybrid cloud strategy, Bürklin wanted flexible storage capacity that could scale as needed, aligning costs with use.
Bürklin selected the Hitachi Vantara Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) with Hitachi EverFlex consumption-based services. Bürklin signed a five-year infrastructure-as-a-service contract, which provides scalable data storage and reduces the initial capital investment.
Working with IS4IT GmbH, its IT services partner, Bürklin installed two Hitachi Vantara VSP E590 arrays with Brocade SAN switches. The distributed infrastructure spans two data centers to ensure the highest level of business continuity for Bürklin’s applications, which primarily operate on VMware.
IS4IT migrated Bürklin to the new system with minimal disruption to the business—and to the bottom line. The entire storage modernization was finished in only three days, well ahead of schedule.
Blazing Speeds, Bigger Savings, Better Sustainability
Hitachi EverFlex fits with Bürklin’s developing hybrid cloud strategy and allows the distributor to predict and plan its storage costs, even as needs change. A five-year price guarantee and a built-in annual discount make the service agreement financially compelling.
Along with the data storage upgrade, Bürklin replaced its tape backups with a disk-based backup and recovery solution. The flash-based backup system is faster, more reliable, and more energy efficient.
With the new Hitachi Vantara solution, storage costs have decreased while network performance is more than twice as fast. Annual energy costs have dropped by 38 percent.
The simplified architecture is easier to manage, freeing Bürklin’s small IT staff to focus on value-added activities for the core business. Hitachi still provides proactive support through continuous system monitoring, which ensures the high level of availability that Bürklin demands to guarantee a seamless customer experience.
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